THE SOUTH

Far longer than one's great great grandfather's memory The South has held a deeply intense affection for, an inspirational affirmation of, an advocacy of heartfelt respect for and loyalty to all things dear to Military culture and it enduring traditions-- Often chided sometimes impugned for their wear it on the sleeve patriotism and readiness to serve, those in government could always count on the South when trouble arose overseas-- Sharply troubling then are stories reflecting a unusual descent into a solemn disaffection on the rise-- Battered by widely scattered military base closings a process that more often than not means economic devastation to all things contingent upon such economy such as the health and education of the entire town if not the entire county coupled with the hellaciously slow and generally inadequate response of Government at every level and lack of meaningful follow-up to the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina, The South to put it point blank, without even mentioning the sharply downward thrust of the Housing sector and its effect on Blue Collar, is suffering-- Federal photo-ops of the Commander in Chief doling out homilies of compassion were staged largely to reassure the rest of America that in the aftermath of their acute incompetence the government was still in charge and The South was not in danger of total collapse-- Now more disturbing news for the administration, support for the war in Iraq is deteriorating across The South and may be much deeper there than elsewhere in the US--

Injuries to U.S. troops in Iraq soaring and more often than not in previous wars sons and daughters of The South have borne more than a proportionate share of those casualties-- Words like Honor and Duty seem to have always resonated a little more deeply in the South-- If The South is losing faith in the war, the reasons for it certainly cannot be laid at the feet of its soldiers and the sacrifices they are making daily-- Soldiers who, as nearly everyone across the entire country now knows, have been asked by gutless incompetent politicos to accomplish a dauntingly difficult if not impossible task without the necessary means to effect that achievement-- Although Hollywood loves to portray The South as redneck and stupid, men and women of The South are quite like most everyone else, at least in one respect. At a minimum they do not particularly relish being lied to and they have a right and a duty to refrain supporting those calculated lies and the casualties they continue to induce especially when their sons and daughters are the ones most affected and when 'plain-as-day-as-anyone-can-see' arrives in an atmosphere of economic stress they have a right and a duty to be angry-- The South too knows by its own history the difficulties and dangers of invasion, occupation and defeat and what pressure that puts on all participants and are perhaps because of that history more cognizant of the signposts of surfacing defeat--The South too isn't oblivious to Congress cutting funds to Veterans Hospitals and Veterans' Benefits while setting aside $20million bucks for a victory gala that, sorry, ain't arriving anytime soon-- Even dogs are allowed to bite the hand that feeds them poison--